Background: *George Eastman started experimenting with photographic technology in the late 1870’s and formed the Eastman Dry Plate Company in London in 1881. Eastman pioneered film on rolls and this revolutionised the photography industry. The business grew quickly to become Eastman Kodak Company by 1892 with a web of related companies in the United States, Canada and throughout Europe.

Kodak Australasia was formed in 1908 by the merger of Kodak with the Victorian based Baker and Rouse Pty Ltd who had operated the Austral Plate Company since 1884. The Kodak production facilities were located at Abbottsford in Melbourne but they operated retail and distribution offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Notably Baker and Rouse were also perfin users with a B&R pattern found on postage stamps between 1906 and 1910 but this pattern has not been found on revenues to date.

Device: This Perth device was a single head device as it is able to produce central strikes on stamps of a variety of sizes. It was first used in Perth in the early 1920’s but in around 1925 the device seems to have been moved to Melbourne and all subsequent usage is in Melbourne. Therefore Perth usage is scarce and this is the first report of its use on Western Australian revenues. In Melbourne the device was also used on revenue stamps of Victoria and this is noted as K.a in the Victorian section.

It was a robust device with thick pins and it generally produced a clear and complete pattern. As with all K patterns and other near symmetrical letters care needs to be taken when confirming the pattern with the Perfin Finder and reference sheet as strikes in different positions can appear similar. If at first the pattern does not appear to fit the reference pattern then turn the stamp over and check again. This symmetrical nature of the K’s has lead to much miss reporting in past studies of Australian perfins.

This K pattern is found on the postage stamps of Australia between early 1920 and 1948.